


Hat for a Villain

by unsettled



Category: Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hats, M/M, Madness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-16
Updated: 2010-06-16
Packaged: 2017-10-10 03:39:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/95065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unsettled/pseuds/unsettled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He never knew he wanted a hat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hat for a Villain

There is a box on Stayne's bed, and he can't remember sending for anything. It is garish, a lurid splash of color against the white, white sheets, and that is all he needs to tell him who it is from. With reverent hands he slides off the lid, because Tarrant does not make hats for just anyone. True, anyone can buy a hat from him, can order one made, but Tarrant only _creates_ hats for a few, select people, and no one can see the logic he employs in choosing those privileged.

Stayne lifts it out with trembling fingers, and it is perfect. He never knew he wanted a hat, much less this one, but now it is settling into his heart, right alongside it's maker. It is black, but never a dull black; the velvet pile sucks in light, the band an iridescent snake of silk, the trailing feather hand dyed a midnight sunset of color. It is exquisite, and he cannot wait one more moment to try it on. The fit is perfection, one sweeping edge of the brim coming down to neatly shade his damaged eye. A hat for a villain, he thinks, or a hero, and though he is neither of those he feels laughter welling up.

"You like it?"

He turns, and Tarrant is leaning against the doorway "No," he says, and then before Tarrant's expression can begin to shift, "I love it."

Tarrant smiles at the praise, and pride in a well done job shades his voice. "How much?"

Stayne reaches out and draws him closer. "Very much. Shall I show you?" and proceeds to do just that.

*

When the White Queen and shame and pride have driven him away at last, he goes to the Red Queen. She doesn't trust him, that is clear, but his own tale of manipulation at the hands of her sister strikes a cord. She welcomes him, his rage and his hurt and his information, and gifts him with a heart shaped eye patch, the same shade as beating blood. He turns it over in his hands, and thinks longingly of his wonderful hat; but it is resting in a box in the hands of someone he thought he loved, and he thinks he has left his heart with it.


End file.
